Last Update: 14 November 2024
Available now and a must-have for every woman motorcycle enthusiast, is The MotoLady’s Book of Women Who Ride: Motorcycle Heroes, Trailblazers & Record-Breakers. The coffee-book style publication is fantastically written and curated by Alicia Mariah Elfving, founder of TheMotoLady.com and the Women’s Motorcycle Show. She is certainly one of my favourite “women who ride” and notable advocates for women in motorcycling.
The MotoLady’s Book of Women Who Ride subverts all the tired women-and-motorcycle tropes, offering the true stories of the women past and present who ride and wrench as well as anyone, proving every bit as indispensable to maintaining and growing a positive motorcycling culture.
MotoLady Style
Historically, depictions of women in motorcycle culture tend to objectify—from the outlaw motorcycle club “biker babe” to cheesecake photography to posturing celebrities with motorcycles as props. The truth is much different. From the early days of motorcycle culture more than 100 years ago, women have played a central role in making the motorcycle a legitimate form of transportation, recreation, and motorsport.
Elfving presents more than 70 figures in the motorcycle world, from the Americas to Europe and even the Middle East and South Asia—stunt riders, racers, builders, customizers, organisers, and more. Elfving links today’s women motorcyclists with those of the past and illustrates the freedom represented by two wheels, and how motorcycles allow women to transcend cultural expectations confidently. You’ll meet riders such as:
- The late Jessi Combs, an iconic TV personality, metal fabricator, and land-speed record holder.
- Sofi Tsingos of GT-Moto, who raises money for charities by building and auctioning motorcycles.
- Spanish motorcycle racer Laia Sanz, ten-time trials champion and “the toughest woman in motorsport”.
- and yes, MOTORESS – “moi”!
Overwhelmingly positive, Elfving instils confidence and can-do rather than providing an echo chamber of common complaints among women in motorcycling. In addition, The MotoLady’s Book of Women Who Ride is illustrated throughout with contemporary and historical photos of the author’s subjects, comprising a beautiful as well as inspiring package.
Thank you and congrats MotoLady!
